The present invention is related to containers for transporting heated food, particularly pizzas, hamburgers and more generally fast-food products.
These food products, purchased in a warm condition at the production site and then transferred to the place where they shall be taken, are subjected not only to progressive cooling but also to contamination by the steam generated thereby and then condensed following cooling.
The transporting containers presently used, traditionally consisting of simple cardboard boxes, are all affected by the above-referenced drawback, whereby the organoleptic characteristics of the food products housed therein are more or less lowered, often without any chances to be restored not even by subjecting the foodstuffs to further heating.
A further critical inconvenience of the conventional containers consisting of simple cardboard boxes resides in that these containers are permeable to any fluid substances coming out during transportation from the foodstuffs contained therein, with a consequent risk of leakage and pouring of those fluid substances to the outside.
An extremely efficient and functional solution to the above-referenced problems is provided in EP-A-0989067, and consists of a unique container formed by a first and a second half-shell of moulded plastic material adapted to be sealingly coupled to each other and defining therebetween a cavity for containing a pizza or the like in a spaced-apart condition relative to the bottom walls of the half-shells. Containers successfully produced according to the above prior document are capable to ensure both preservation of temperature and fragrance and absence of moisture of the warm food product contained therein, even during a surprisingly long time. However their cost, relatively higher than the cost of simple cardboard boxes, might be preventing a commercial diffusion thereof on a large scale.
A first object of the present invention is to overcome the latter drawback, and more particularly to provide a container for transporting pizza and the like which is capable to overcome the defects of the traditional containers, with results comparable to those achieved by the container known from EP-A-0989067, however with lower manufacturing costs.
A second object of the present invention is to further improve the container known from EP-A-0989067.
According to the invention these objects are achieved by a container the main feature of which is defined in appended claim 1.
Additional secondary features of the container according to the invention are defined in sub-claims 2-6.
The provision of the inner tray advantageously enhances functionality of the outer vessel essentially by virtue of the fact that the warm foodstuff has no direct contact with the lower wall of the container but is instead thermally isolated relative thereto by the interspace defined, in use, between the bottom wall of the container and the tray, while the latter is anyhow firmly bearing upon said bottom wall. This prevents over-heating of the container bottom which, while ensuring better structural stability of the container, makes transportation thereof more convenient to the user.